Thank you, Chair.
I want to begin with a statement on why are we here today. We're here today because whatever was in place has fundamentally failed too many people. We've heard compelling evidence given by individuals on how the system failed in the best of organizations. That's why our government is here today. Our government felt strongly that status quo was no longer acceptable.
We introduced a piece of legislation to bring the issue of harassment, sexual harassment and physical harassment, to an open forum to discuss it, debate it, and to bring in legislation that would put a process in place to begin to reduce that, because we heard some alarming numbers. It was about 20% of the public service. We heard that within the RCMP, when it became more open, the number went from 400 to 4,000 issues. I want your comment on that.
I sense, from a number of organizations, that there was a lot of push to protect the status quo. The status quo has not worked. I, as a member of this committee, will not support the status quo. I support this piece of legislation. We are here to hear testimony on how we can improve it, but I fully support our government's approach and the minister's approach in moving on this legislation.
I would simply ask you to comment briefly, because there has been some issue of whether we should support the legislation or not support the legislation. Well, I'm very proud to be supporting the legislation. Can we make some improvements? I suspect we can, but at least we have arrived at this state today.
Thank you.